My phone went missing one night. For some reason I already knew what happened to it. I asked Jackie who admitted she hid it away because I spend more time on my phone than with them. My darling joked that they should just handle it but then I began thinking.…
We teach this strategy as a part of the courses, and I think my first Newsletter story may have covered the same topic over a year ago but I suppose it’s great to revisit this strategy during this time of the year when we will be seeing our family as…
I am going to be a new dad again. I remember I wrote a story about turning back the clock and looking after a baby again, but all I really had to do was wait a bit and my chance appeared. So in about 6 months’ time there will be…
Quality time can be as long or as little as you can manage, at the end of the day it all counts. But there are a few rules to making a moment, long or short a quality time. Focused attention Make to focus 100% on you children. Whatever we decide…
I remember we were having a hard time with one of the girls. It was like nothing we did worked. Every instruction went in one ear and out the other. We were determined to get to the bottom of this. Even her day care had said maybe it had something…
I went to get my haircut the other day when the barber said, ‘It’s a messed up world nowadays.’ I asked him what he meant by that to which he said, ‘It’s not like how it was when we were kids’. These kids get everything. I sat in the chair…
In our parenting courses we talk about the importance of ‘connecting moments’, which like all new skills, takes a while to learn. It isn’t difficult, but for some of us, it can be very different to how we normally communicate with our children. Here is an example from my own…
When I was 8, my dad was worried that I was too soft. I remember we were at the Marae at a tangi and he woke me up early to go for a ride. We went up the back and arrived at a farm. Since we moved to town when…
2am, I hear a cry. I wake up with sleepy eyes and go about helping with the night shift. Usual tasks that I perform are changing his nappy, burping him and making my darling a cup of tea. This is the usual routine that I have been performing with my…
I have been talking this week about quality time and how spending time with our children can help them to be more willing to listen. It’s all related to a bigger picture around relationship. When explaining this theory, I’ve found it’s easier for parents to understand when we use ourselves…